Sitting on the dark earth and staring up at him was a skull, the lower jaw below ground so Matt didn't have to cope with the thing grinning up at him. The empty eye sockets were scary enough . . . Matt Logan isn't looking forward to spending the school holidays with his grandmother and her new husband. He has to fly to Rotorua, where he doesn't know anybody, and he's a bit wary of his new step-grandfather. All Matt knows is that he's Maori and a bus driver.Along with his worries, Matt packs his pride and joy - a homemade metal detector, because, you never know, he might find something interesting.What he finds is Juzza, who lives over the back fence and wants to join a local gang. When the boys unearth a handcuffed skeleton, a chain of events begins to coil around them. together they are thrown into a deadly search for treasure when the local gang boss decides to exploit their find for himself.

What causes climate? What changes climate? Des Hunt takes us on an in-depth look at the science of climate and what we can all do to help the earth thrive.

Twelve-year-old Niko lives in Pohe Bay, a small, rural town with a sacred hot spring – and a taniwha named Taukere. The government wants to build a prison over the home of the taniwha, and Niko’s grandfather is busy protesting. People call him pōrangi, crazy, but when he dies, it’s up to Niko to convince his community that the taniwha is real and stop the prison from being built. With help from his friend Wai, Niko must unite his whānau, honour his grandfather and stand up to his childhood bully.

Jack Stewart hates his new life in Taupo until he meets Fluoro, Taupo's most visible street person. Fluoro lives in a old explosion crater in Crown Park, which provides a link to the last eruption of Lake Taupo, two thousand years before. With Fluoro's help, Jack learns to take his mind back to that time and, with a group of creatures called the Luce Crew, embarks on a mission to rescue the animals of the past from the eruption.

'It will get dark. The crocodiles will come . . . It is for you to decide, Luke. Live or die - it is your choice.' Luke Evans never knew his father - he'd cleared out before he was born. So when his internet skills track down someone living at a luxurious resort in tropical Queensland who could be his dad, Luke's imagination runs wild. What happens when they finally meet is unexpected, and shocks him to the core. Luke has some hard lessons to learn as he realizes that no one is perfect, and that the world can be a tricky place, where people aren't always who they appear to be and nothing can be accepted at face value. How Luke deals with what he finds will change his life . . . if he can survive.

When people like Herbert Muskie take up residence in your mind, there's nothing you can do to get them out. Colin Potter is a skinny boy, hungry for chocolate. Herbert Muskie is enormously fat, hungry for revenge. A dramatic encounter down at the creek forges an unhappy alliance between the vindictive man and the fearful child. But who is the fat man and why does he hate the people of Loomis? What guilty secrets are hidden in the past and why are Colin's parents such special targets? A taut thriller from the award-winning author of The Fire-Raiser, Salt and Gool. Also available as an eBook

"Central Otago's searing summer has been long and brutal. And yet somehow the sheep and smaller creatures on Stonefields Station have survived. That's until Garth Fischer arrives, along with his gun and plans to change things in a big way... ways that are good for Garth Fischer, but nothing else. Then three youngsters make an important discovery in Skink Gully. Tamsin, the farm manager's daughter, and city kids, Dylan and Nimish, must now take on Fischer to protect their find. But the man will go to any length to get his way, even if that means destroying the gully and everything that lives there"--Back cover.

Whataitai and Ngake are two taniwha who live in a beautiful lake. But one day Ngake breaks free to the ocean and leaves his friend behind. His actions have far-reaching consequences that shape the landscape of New Zealand's capital city. Discover the dramatic legend of how Wellington Harbour was created.

"Noah Larsen lives in the big city, enjoying fast-foods, movies, and heaps of mates. That's until his parents decide to move to Stewart Island ... But there is a girl, who lives next door: Hailey North, a bossy know-it-all who has a passion for the outdoors and the island's special wildlife. Then Noah sees a spectacular parrot flying over the bush, a South American macaw, a bird that should never be in the New Zealand forest. Soon afterwards he starts seeing sick and dying native parrots, particularly kaka ... As increasingly more birds die, Hailey and Noah must battle against both time and weather to capture the macaw"--Publisher information.